The artist with his mother

Mediums: oil, canvas.
Location: The Whitney Museum of American Art (the USA).

This is an iconic and most famous work of the artist. The double portrait depicts ten-year-old Vostanik and his mother Shushan, whose early death became a real tragedy for the future artist. The portrait was created from the photograph that his mother made for his father and which he found after many years in his things. The old photograph evoked sad memories in the artist’s soul, and he created a series of works based on that picture. In this work, he reflected not only the pain of losing a person he loved but also all the suffering and deprivation that he had to endure and which were in the destiny of his long-suffering people.